The article describes the case of a 45-year-old woman who has a family history of colonic polyps and cancer. The woman's mother was diagnosed of colon cancer, three of her paternal aunts had developed breast cancer, and her brother's colonoscopic examination revealed the presence of multiple adenomas in the cecum. Details are also given concerning the results of the Whipple procedure undergone by the patient's father, indicating a tubulovillous adenoma in the ampulla of Vater. The classifications of the syndromes of colonic polyposis, namely nonadenomatous and adenomatous, are elaborated.